World Music CD Reviews Reggae & Caribbean

Bob Marley and Winston Rodney (aka Burning Spear) both did sublime work for Studio One in its heyday, and it was also Marley who referred Spear to the studio so he could get his start. Three years after the Wailers left Coxsone Dodd and Studio One, Spear and his singers arrived from the parish of St. Ann, the birthplace of Marcus Garvey, and Jamaican music would never be the same. The Burning Spears, as they technically were, did a slew of singles and two albums for Studio One in the early to mid-’70s which to this day rank as some of the most distinct, satisfying and deeply affecting cultural reggae ever made. Culling tracks from the brilliant Burning Spear and Rocking Time albums plus rare singles unissued on CD, Creation Rebel is not only the ultimate Burning Spear Studio One collection to date, it is a complete statement. Deep roots harmony, the plaintive expression of sufferation, searching and longing, exquisite instrumentation and foundation bass to rattle your window sills, frame Spear’s arcane, major and minor key vision of a better world, with cutting timbres aplenty. Not a reissue, this is deep catalog that will be with us forever.